Trip to Omaha on line for Jackets, Vols

Two days after the St. Louis Cardinals made him a first-round pick in the major league draft, Greene knows his team faces a tough task against Tennessee in a best-of-three Super Regional that begins Friday at 4 p.m.

The winner advances to the College World Series next week.

“It sounds like a cliche, but I just hope we think of it as just one game and move on,” said Greene, a junior shortstop whom the St. Louis Cardinals drafted No. 30 overall this week. “If we do that, we should be successful in the end.”

Georgia Tech (45-17) seeks a third trip to Omaha, Neb. The Volunteers (44-19) are trying to make their fourth appearance in the eight-team tournament.

“The thing I hope we do is just have fun out there and not put too much pressure on ourselves,” said Greene, who hit .373 with 12 homers, 72 RBIs and 30 stolen bases. “Don’t worry about the outcome of this weekend. It’ll take care of itself.”

Both schools swing big bats. Tech led the ACC with a .337 average and Tennessee the SEC with a .334 mark.

The Vols, however, won’t have Eli Iorg at 100 percent. Tennessee’s slugging right fielder, drafted No. 38 by the Houston Astros, suffered a stress fracture in his right foot two weeks ago in the Southeastern Conference tournament.

Iorg, who leads the Vols in batting average (.390), homers (15), RBIs (70) and stolen bases (27), could still serve as a designated hitter. He played that role Sunday in a 12-2 victory over Wichita State, going 1-for-3. He left practice Thursday wearing a walking boot.

Catcher J.P. Arencibia will do his part to carry the offense. With 13 homers, Arencibia set the Vols’ freshman record — two ahead of Todd Helton’s effort in 1993 — to go with a .332 average and 67 RBIs.

Tennessee will use top starter Luke Hochevar in Game 1 against the Jackets’ Blake Wood. The Los Angeles Dodgers chose Hochevar (15-2 with a 2.13 ERA) with the 40th overall pick, but he allowed five earned runs, nine hits and four walks in eight innings of a 7-5 win over Austin Peay last Friday.

Hochevar isn’t concerned that he hasn’t faced Georgia Tech, which has an average of 60.8 RBIs from left fielder Steven Blackwood, third baseman Wes Hodges, right fielders Jeff Kindel and Jeremy Slayden and pitcher-catcher-first baseman Matt Wieters.

“Each hitter has a different approach and a different style of hitting, and you have to adjust to that, but I still have to pitch my game and pitch to my strengths,” he said.

Greene knows the Jackets can expect fastballs between 91-92 mph from Hochevar.

“He’s a good pitcher, but he’s got the same pitches that everyone else has — a fastball, slider and change up,” Greene said. “Nothing’s going to surprise us from what we’ve seen, especially with the good pitching we face in the ACC. That’s really prepared us for any situation.”

Tennessee coach Rod Delmonico will use freshman left-hander James Adkins (9-4) in Game 2 Saturday. If a third game is necessary, the Vols will start right-hander Craig Cobb (7-4).

Delmonico, whose team is 36-1 this year when entering the seventh inning with a lead, has had great production from Sean Watson, a former starter who moved to the bullpen March 25 and earned his first save. Topping out at 97 mph, the right-hander holds nothing back.

“He didn’t pitch but one inning last week,” Delmonico said. “He’s flexible enough to give us three innings one night and three the next.”

Tech coach Danny Hall stopped short of declaring Tim Gustafson (6-2) as the Jackets’ Game 2 starter, but the right-hander from nearby Lilburn is the top candidate.

“You’re always looking at pitch counts, but at this time of year you’re going with the guy who’s the hot guy, so we’ll consider everything,” Hall said. “We’re always conscious of pitch counts, but at the same time, if the guy’s going good, we might let him get that pitch count up a little bit more than we would earlier in the season.”

Georgia Tech leads the all-time series with the Vols 44-31. The schools haven’t played since 1995, when Tennessee eliminated the Jackets from the NCAA Mideast Regional in Knoxville.